Invisible Enemy by Ken Britz

Author:Ken Britz [Britz, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-08T22:00:00+00:00

19

HFSS Kuro Hai

Rigel B Jovian Outer Moon Orbit

0435 U.Z.

1254.12.14 A.F.

HFSS Kuro Hai slid past the Jovian terminus, sparks of lightning visible on its riotous blue and green gaseous surface. Kenga’s damage control displays flickered with activity. The hull was nearly repaired, with a new hull generator in place and stealth plating restored. That was good news, as the outer radiation readings were now beyond human tolerances. Black crablike repair bots were operating in pairs now, the radiation affecting their circuits as they closed range with the gas giant. They were past its outer ring of moons and they dropped into geosynchronous orbit on the dark side.

Kenga’s teeth hurt, and the pain in her body exceeded the pain management Lin prescribed. I’m running out of time, she thought. But if she rushed headlong into her plan, it would all come apart. Though she’d removed Reed as XO for the time being, he was still proconsul and had some authority over how the ship operated. He’d acted in the face of her collapse, though more aggressively than she wanted.

The repair estimate updated, and she checked the astrodisplay. The second corvette had left the shipyard and was burning hard toward the Jovian—that was something new.

The corvette hadn’t firewalled her throttle, which meant her acceleration was limited or was possibly being cautious. That was something to consider—a second cautious corvette captain. The corvette was still hours out with a twenty-minute light delay one-way.

Kenga sighed and tapped the comm link to Weps. “Gunnar, reload the starboard fin with the two Backbreakers in tubes two and four. Load the rest with low-yield, high acceleration torpedoes.” She sent him the calculations for what she had planned.

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Tan said. “And the port torpedo bay? Load with standards?”

“That’s right. We’re still loaded with mines in the aft bay?”

“Fully racked, ma’am,” Tan said.

“Very well. Load the aft tubes with mines.” Kenga said, closing the circuit.

“Something in mind, Captain?” Reed asked.

“Nothing more than a standard approach and attack on the corvette. It’ll be close, but by the time she reaches Jovian orbit, we should be translated into shallow subspace.”

“That’ll make us detectable to their new system,” Reed said, rubbing his nose absently. “That doesn’t seem like a normal approach and attack.”

Kenga motioned to the Jovian on their screens. “My plan is to dive into the Jovian exosphere. Its radiation will confound their systems enough to allow us to attack.”

“I’ll check with sensors, but if it affects our tachyon detection systems, the chances are theirs will be affected as well.”

Kenga nodded. “The gravity well will affect our torpedoes, though. It will be a balancing act. How far down do we go but still get our torpedoes on target?” She was tired and felt three times older than she was. Her body battled itself, fighting the cancer within her. It might be worsened by the Jovian’s radiation, even with the hull’s double shielding. Things would improve for Kuro once they were in subspace, but Kenga wouldn’t be in subspace.

“She’ll see the torpedoes coming from low orbit long before they reach her,” Reed said.

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